My father taught me some business know-how long before I was old enough to understand much of business logic. He was telling me something about wages and expense accounts and the difference between the two. There were two individuals in my life when I was a kid who drove ultra-fancy, latest-year model cars. I wondered about that. My father drove a useful van, but not really fancy. Why the difference was the intrigue. My father explained to me why the two gents with the really fancy cars needed them. Seems they represented high-end lines of products and their company wanted to set a tone of luxury. Therefore, salespeople for these companies were given high-end cars to drive to sales calls. The salespeople knew they had to be nattily dressed and that they could charge expensive dinners at fine restaurants and meetings in upscale cafes to their business expense account.

Now, all that was fine and good and the expense account stayed steady and filled, so long as they were generating sales. However, if sales slumped off, if these guys didn’t stay on top of their game in representing the firm, the firm would slowly freeze up the expense account.

My father told me the expense account had nothing to do with salary. Salary, that was paid, on top of the expense account, as a reward for all sales closed.

My father was not trying to turn me into some high-earning tycoon. He wanted me to apply the lesson into a spiritual realm. You see, he told me, G-d also rewards us for doing the right thing – but that reward is usually in the next realm. However, if you can prove to G-d that you are a producer, that you bring G-d awareness in the world in a major way and that in order to do it right you need an expense account, G-d will send you money, apart from the eventual reward. Money to get a place, money to buy clothes, money to buy food – anything you might need to represent Him the way you are most adept at doing.

My father would then wrap it up with a warning – tell me that only producers can legitimately ask for an expense account.

My friends, let’s start producing a G-d awareness in the world in dignified manners. That way, we can legitimately ask G-d for an extra big expense account for the coming year to amp up our representations into ways that speak of high quality.